PLAY IT AGAIN, HARRY - PART ONE

Kennedy Library - Cecil Stoughton)

After Harry Truman played “The Missouri Waltz" on the piano at the White House, it was adopted as the official state song in 1949. The lyrics were considered racially sensitive and the song had to be amended before this could happen. As Truman’s ancestors were slave owners and southern sympathizers, they were probably turning over in their graves at the change of tone of the song.

 Truman himself recalled of his parents being “a violently unreconstructed southern family” and “Lincoln haters.” When they migrated to Missouri from Kentucky in the 1840’s, they brought their slaves with them and even received slaves as a wedding present. Talk about a unique wedding gift idea for the couple that has everything!

Truman’s mother was an ardent admirer of William Quantrill, the Confederate guerrilla leader who pillaged Lawrence, Kansas in 1863, killing at least one hundred and fifty of its citizens, including women and children. One historian has called him “the bloodiest man in America”. He wouldn’t have been on MY hero list but he was supposed to be a real ladies man so who knows…. More on this in my next post.

Guerrilla fighters like Quantrill were better known as Bush Whackers during the Civil War, where they were extremely violent in Kansas and throughout Missouri. This was particularly prevalent in rural areas like Dent, Shannon, Reynolds and Iron Counties where there were sharp divisions between those favoring the Union and Confederacy. Most Missourians today can find an ancestor in their past that was effected by these bush whackers where grizzly stories still remain in the family lore.  

I realize this blog is very new and at this point has few readers but I would hope that some would write in, sharing their families’ stories of Bush Whackers during the civil war as will I in my next post.

Stay tuned for Part Two of “PLAY IT AGAIN, HARRY or “BUSHWHACKED IN MISSOURI”.